DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Description): Mai Huong Nguyen, M.D. began her position at UCLA in July 1995 as Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Oncology. Previously, she was trained as a surgical oncologist and did research in tumor angiogenesis at Harvard Medical School. Her goal is to become an independent physician scientist and teacher. She is dedicated to cancer research. UCLA is an established institution with many resources, and the Division of Surgical Oncology is committed towards her development as a physician scientist. The survival and growth of solid tumors is dependent on their ability to initiate and sustain new capillary growth, i.e., angiogenesis. The overall goal of Dr. Nguyen's research is to establish the importance of adhesion molecules important in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Specifically, her strategy is to analyze the role of E-selectin and its sialyl Lewis X/A glycoconjugates in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Her first aim includes: 1A) To determine whether E-selectin is preferentially expressed in the endothelium of the proliferating tumor capillaries by immunohistochemistry of human cancer specimens and by measuring the in vitro expression of E-selectin of endothelial cells within a tumor environment; 1B) To determine whether angiogenesis can be suppressed in vitro and in vivo by specific inhibitors which interfere with the interaction between E-selectin and sialyl Lewis X/A; and 1C) To construct an adenoviral plasmid linked to the E-selectin promoter in order to specifically target the tumor vasculature for future gene therapy. Her second aim includes: 2A) To determine whether metastasis can be suppressed in vivo by specific inhibitors which interfere with the interaction between E-selectin and sialyl Lewis X/A; and 2B) To identify and characterize the tumor cell glycoprotein which carries the sialyl Lewis X/A glycoconjugates. These studies will add to the understanding of the role of cell adhesion molecules in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis, and may result in a novel approach toward cancer therapeutics.